APG Contractor Killed in Explosion Rose From Poverty in India

Dr. Nanaj Bhamare rose from a small, impoverished village in India without electricity or running water and went on to become a chemist who worked throughout North America.

One of Bhamare's dreams was to return to his village to share his success by opening a bottling factory.

Instead, Bhamare, 54, died in a May 1 explosion at Aberdeen Proving Ground.

On May 9, his body did return to his hometown of Pimpalkote, a village of 6,000 people. But it arrived for a cremation service.

“He was not particularly religious but his family did conduct the cremation, which I attended, as per Hindu rituals,” said Prasad Bhamre, a cousin, in a telephone interview from Bangalore, India, with Aberdeen Patch.

Federal investigators from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives are still investigating the explosion in the Edgewood laboratory at APG. Details of Bhamare’s death are unknown.

The details of his life, however, are well known to Bhamre, a longtime friend and relative.

“He chose his line of work single-handedly,” said Bhamre, who is originally from the same village but grew up in a nearby city. “His mother and my father were maternal cousins. … There were no role models for him in the village and that in itself is a great story as he was able to grow professionally without any support.”

Bhamare’s immediate family still lives in Pimpalkote, working as subsistence farmers. The village only received electricity some 15 years ago, and water still must be drawn from a well, Bhamre said.

“He was the only one to break free of the shackles of poverty and proceed to get a doctorate in organic chemistry from (India’s) University of Pune,” Bhamre said. “For somebody with his level of accomplishment, there is a tendency for people in the village to deify him. But he was very down to earth.”

In fact, Bhamare had used his success to help his family increase their land holdings from 15 to 125 acres throughout his career. And he was planning to build a factory there, Bhamre said.

“He rarely spoke about anything other than his work and uplifting his family,” Bhamre said.

Bhamare had visited bottling plants in California and was making plans to establish a pomegranate juice factory on the family’s land in India.

“He wasn’t a typical academic,” Bhamre said. “He was not one to say, ‘Now I have mine.’’’

Bhamare had written several articles in local newspapers about improving social issues before he left India. He also earned a law degree, Bhamre said. He has also been published under the name, N.K. Bhamare, in the Journal of Organic Chemistry, ChemInform Abstract and other professional journals.

“Desire to excel in his field made him leave India to pursue research,” Bhamre said.

Bhamare’s success in North America started in Canada. He worked as a researcher at the University of Toronto in the late 1980s alongside professor John C. Polanyi, who won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1986.

That’s where Bhamre and Bhamare’s relationship transcended their ties as distant relatives and grew into a friendship. Bhamre arrived at the University of Toronto to pursue a master’s degree in mechanical engineering.

“I lived with him for about six months before moving on campus,” Bhamre said of his cousin. “It was there that I observed that he was a passionate cook and indeed I learned a few recipes from him."

Bhamare stayed in Canada until the early-1990s. Then he took a research position at the University of Buffalo, SUNY.

“He was a soft-spoken guy,” Bhamre said. “He spoke very little.”

Bhamare’s career had taken him to the Chicago area where he lived until September before moving to Maryland.

“At some point in Chicago, he worked for a private company developing new formulations and was particularly proud that some of those had been commercialized,” Bhamre said.

It was during his time in Chicago that Bhamare married and had a daughter named Gauri, who is now 16 years old.

“He was very close to his daughter. He wanted Gauri to study, but he did not push her towards the sciences,” Bhamre said.

Bhamare later divorced.

“I do not know much about his relationship with his ex-wife,” Bhamre said. “(He) had recently married to his second wife whom I have not met yet.”

Bhamre said his cousin left Chicago for Maryland to continue active research. At Aberdeen, Bhamare was working as a subcontractor for Batelle Inc. of Columbus, OH, when the explosion occurred.

“He remained a scientist at heart and found his way back to research eventually. This is what he enjoyed the most,” Bhamre said. “That kind of defined his life and his death.”